Konoha's Nine Beasts
by freedragon
Summary: What if the Kyuubi had gotten in contact with Naruto at an early age? What if Naruto was destined to be, not just a Hokage, but a king? What if he was destined to conquer far more than just his village? With the help of a few friends and the Kyuubi himself, organizes something that will shake the ninja world to its core. -Stronger & Smarter Naruto (but not god. He needs to work.)
1. Chapter 0

Konoha's Nine Beasts

Summary: What if the Kyuubi had gotten in contact with Naruto at an early age? What if Naruto was destined to be, not just a Hokage, but a king? What if he was destined to conquer far more than just his village? This is the story of how Naruto, with the help of a few friends and the Kyuubi himself, organizes something that will shake the ninja world to its core. -Stronger and Smarter Naruto, BUT he isn't god. He actually has to work to get to be the best. Pairing(s) undecided. [Rated M just to be safe]

Note: This is a combo of a challenge and a personal idea. I just decided to mix them. Pairings are undecided as of yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own or am entitled legally to Naruto or any of the components of the franchise which I may use in this story. This is a fanfiction which I am writing just because I want to and I only own the ideas in my head that I'll put here if I feel like it.

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**Alright people, the Dragon is back! Don't anybody worry, I've brought you all a brand new story. So come with me and let me give you a peek in my mind.**

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_Chapter 0 (Prologue): The Beginning_

The Elemental Nations, the home of shinobi and beasts. It's a world that constantly changes and warps, continually forcing its inhabitants to adapt. It's a world dominated by five superpowers: The Lands of fire, earth, lightning, wind, and water; each nation holding thousands of shinobi at the ready.

However, in this world in which there is always a struggle of some sort, humans aren't always the most dangerous thing you can come across with. To name a few of the perils, there are the giant beast inhabit the Forest of Death in Konoha, Predator hawks roam the most remote peaks of Kumo, toxic plants in deserts of Suna, and so on.

And then there were Demons.

In particular, the nine tailed beasts were the ones that one really needed to worry about. That is not to say that there weren't other demons around, but the nine beasts were top of the food-chain. A single one of them had enough raw power to take down a legion of ninja.

Speaking of which, the strongest of the beasts, the Kyuubi, otherwise known as the nine-tailed beast, could be found rampaging against Konoha, the strongest ninja village of all the Elemental Nations. Nearly every Ninja from chunin rank upwards was engaging the beast in combat, pulling every trick they had with no reserve. The strategist group scrambled to find effective formations and the weaknesses on the beast, the medics were working overtime to fix up the troops, and the ninjas attacked with admirable ferocity, their bonds and teamwork with each other boosting their performance and helping them survive.

And despite this they were still only managing to keep the beast from advancing, keeping it from reaching the village as genin were assigned with escorting all villagers to safety. As it was, the beast had managed to destroy a few buildings in the building just by accident, mostly due to uprooted trees that were sent flying when the beast swatted at the defending ninja with his claws or tails, resulting in a few premature casualties. However, to the credit of the Konoha ninjas, about two or three hundred ninja from Konoha's forces were out on missions when the beast attacked, and fourth Hokage was momentarily absent, and somehow they were still managing to keep the beast in check at the moment.

By the time the fight had extended for roughly three quarters of an hour the forces of Konoha were still holding, but the supply of rested or healthy troops was growing thin, and the beast seemed to be unconcerned by most attacks. As a matter of fact, most chunin were having trouble scratching the beast at all and had to act in squads to have a significant effect on the beast, and the jounin were hitting it with techniques that would have killed nearly any man or woman, and yet barely phased the beast. Even with the power of the Hyuga, Inauzaki, Aburame, Uchiha, and all the other prominent clans, plus the third Hokage, who had retired recently, Konoha was still being pressed into a corner slowly but surely. The only sort of advantage that they seemed to have over the beast was sheer numbers and the fact that it was attacking in a very unrefined and scatter minded form.

In conclusion, things were not looking great for Konoha. However, just when they thought their defense was about to crack, a golden streak shot out from the forest, dashing towards the Kyuuby at speeds that even elite level jounin could barely track. Nevertheless, every single Konoha ninja recognized the golden streak, for there was only one man that could move like that on earth.

Like a god of thunder the fourth Hokage arrived in the scene, coated in a slight golden colored aura of chakra as he moved at supersonic speeds. In his arms, a small bundle of clothes. Streaking across the field, he landed a kick on the beast that resonated loudly across the field, a small shockwave exploding outwards as his foot made contact with the beast's hide. The fox growled as he felt the impact, which was easily the most powerful single attack he had been hit with all day.

"Everyone back up!" the fourth Hokage ordered, his voice leaving no room for arguing. All forces within a hundred meter radius of the Kage jumped back unquestioningly. Their fourth Hokage was considered the best ninja their village had to offer since their first Hokage, a genius in all aspects of strategy and combat, not to mention the sealing arts. When an SS ranked ninja said to back up, you backed up, especially when he was your Kage.

The Kage jumped up and golden light exploded outwards from his body, blinding the Kyuubi for just a moment, making the fox rear up and howl with sudden shock as he was momentarily blinded. As the Hokage landed to the ground, the aura of gold dissipated as he flashed through some hand signs and bit his thumb before slamming his hand on the ground. A cloud of smoke suddenly puffed into existence, towering almost as tall as the Kyuubi himself, and after a moment, the cloud dissipated to reveal a massive red toad, obviously the toad boss summon of the Kage's contract.

"What's going on?" The toad rumbled with a booming voice, flicking his eyes upwards to look at his summoner.

"Gambuta, I need you to stall the Kyuubi for a moment." The fourth Hokage replied without preamble, "I need only a minute."

Gambuta looked up at his summoner with wide eyes, and turned to look at the fox that had now almost recovered, and said fox was obviously not happy to be blinded for a moment.

Not having time to argue, nor to have the luxury of wasting an opportunity, Gambuta launched himself at the fox before it could fully recover, leaping on top of him and knocking him onto his belly as the massive toad suddenly slammed on him. Gambuta pulled out his short sword and tried to slice at the Kyuubi, who immediately used his tails to grab hold of Gambuta's arms in an attempt to wrestle his weapon away from his hands. The toad eventually had to let go of the sharp blade and leap back as the Kyuubi tried to buck him off his back.

"Hurry up Namikaze!" Gambuta shouted as he ducked under a red tail swatting at him with enough power to crush a mountainside.

"I only need a few more seconds!" The Hokage replied as he struggled to keep his writing perfect for the seal he needed. A single mistake could prove fatal. Luckily for him, he was used to high-speed movements and so he was able to avoid mistakes due to all the movement between the two giant beasts. He needed this to go perfectly.

The Kyuubi roared and charged at the boss toad summon, bearing its teeth as it came, forcing Gambuta to jump sideways to avoid being torn apart by the fox's deadly claws. Gambuta managed to angle his jump away from the Konoha troops, all of which watched in awe as their leader singlehandedly stalled the beast, giving the strategist team precious moments to organize the troops and come up with an strategy.

"Got it!" The blonde Hokage shouted in triumph, setting down his ink and brush in a sealing scroll as he looked down at his work: a newborn child that was painted with symbols across his entire body lay on the blanket that had enveloped him up until about a minute ago. The Kage smiled at him sweetly despite the current situation they all found themselves in, and did a simple hand sign before touching the baby gently over his heart. The seals retracted towards the location of the Kage's hand as if sucked in by a vortex, and contracted into a tattoo of a cross over the baby's heart.

"Namikaze-!" Gambuta shouted at him, making the Kage tear his gaze from his baby and look ahead as he saw the Kyuubi roar again. The Kage met te beast's eyes with a determined gaze, evenly staring at the imposing blood-red eyes of the demonic beast.

"Gambuta," the Hokage said without breaking eye-contact with the fox, "Hold him down for a moment. I need to get close."

Gambuta bearly had time to spare a glance above his head before the massive fox lunged at him. The toad gritted his teeth and, much to the surprise of the fox, lunged at him too, startling the fox just enough to give Gambuta the chance to hang on to him with a grapple. The Fourth Hokage, who had already started on making a long string of hand signs, and at the moment Gambuta had grappled with the fox, he had just about finished the signs required for the Jutsu.

smiled. Not a mocking smile, nor a victorious smile. It was a sad and yet happy smile. As if snapping from a daze the fox's eyes widened, and his roar drowned out the voice of the Hokage as he shouted the name of the jutsu.

As if by witchcraft, the grim reaper himself appeared behind the fourth, its ghostly white appearance and white-on-black eyes looking at the scene with an intimidating gaze that seemed mildly interested in the fight between the fox an the Kage. The Kage looked down at his son with a sad but relieved smile as he sensed the shinigami reach into him, grabbing a hold of his soul as a seal appeared on his belly, and an other spectral hand shot out from his belly and latched on to the fox.

The fox roared as he tried to pull himself away, but Gambuta somehow managed to hold him in place while the Hokage spent massive amounts of chakra to pull the fox's soul out of him. It was much harder than he thought it would be, until he realized the fox's corporal form_ was _a result of his spirit. In other words, he was sealing the fox completely, both body and soul. The Hokage gritted his teeth and redoubled his effort, and soon the fox was jerked forward by the spectral hand, causing him to glow in a ghostly manner as the fox seemed to turn into a spirit before the eyes of the crowd of ninja, who could only stare in awe as the fox which they had struggled against for so long in this day was subdued.

The Reaper's hand held the ghostly red fox steady for a moment, before swiftly slammed him into the belly of the newborn baby, causing the point of contact between the fox and the newborn to radiate with blinding light, almost as if a star had been placed right on the baby's belly, forcing the onlookers to look away as to not be blinded by the light. However, the fourth Hokage, looked down at the baby and shed a single warm tear that landed right on top of the baby's heart.

The fox's spectral body became elongated and narrowed as he was sucked into the body of the baby, just as the Soul of the fourth Hokage was pulled out of his body. A large seal array was formed in the belly of the baby that was somehow in the shape of a simple sun: a spiraling inward ring surrounded by eight lines of equal that were evenly spaced, each line containing a complex array of symbols that defined the seal. By the time the fox had been sealed inside the baby, the blinding glow had died down, and the Kage's own soul was completely pulled out of him, save for a ghostly white chain that still linked the soul to his body. The ninjas, who had at that point turned back to look at the Kage, gapped in awe when they realized the demon-fox was gone, but soon the relief they felt was cut short when they saw the reaper floating behind their Hokage, making their blood run cold with fear.

Leaning forward as the shinigami pulled out a wicked looking knife, the Kage managed to speak a few last words to the child. "Be good Naruto, and always be proud of who you are and always be strong. I believe in you, just like your mother... We love you with every single fiber of our being. So grow strong my son. You are a descendant of the Last of the Namikaze and the last of the Uzumaki. You will make us proud, I know it... I love you kid. I entrust you with everything." the Kage concluded as tears began to run freely from his eyes. He closed his eyes and drew a last tiered breath. "I did my best. Goodbye Gambuta...Kushina... Here I come."

And the reaper brought down his knife, severing the soul of the Fourth Hokage, making his body crumple to the ground lifelessly as the reaper faded until it disappeared with the soul of the Kage still in his hand.

What followed was a deafening silence as the troops looked at the epicenter of the battle between the two giant beasts. The fox was gone, and the threat it represented to the village was gone with it, but there were no shouts of victory, no rejoicing upon the defeat of the fox, no cries of joy, not even laugh of relief. There was no sign of victory. Only the sound of silence and muted, cold hearted grief.

A rolling thundercloud chose to roll in over the village at this point, a single crash of thunder booming in the distance before rain started pouring over the battlefield. The village had survived with only minimal damage to its structures and only a few deaths of civilians and some ninja, which was impressive and very lucky in its self, but the Kyuubi had claimed the life of the most loved and respected figure in the village, the life of the greatest man to set foot on the village since it was founded.

The fourth Hokage was dead.

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**BOOM! THAT'S THE PROLOGUE! I know its really short (about a third or a fourth of my usual length), but I rather see if anyone is interested in this first before extending this project. If I get enough interest on this project I'll continue it.  
Anyhow! Please leave me a review or a comment about the chapter, tell me if you liked it or not. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!**

**This is Dragon logging out!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello to you all! Guess who's BACK!? Yeah, the dragon is back ladies and gentle men! Especial thanks to everyone that read the prologue, I did NOT foresee the amount of interest thatt he simple five page prologue prompted. I was very happy with the amount of interest, (subscribers to the story within the first six hours! Yes!) and I would like to give a special thanks to every person that reviewed the story! Seriously guys, it encourages me to write more.**

ANYHOW, you all came here to read what happens next, so let's get to it!

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Chapter 1: Naruto Uzumaki!

Run! He had to run!

That's what a certain blonde child thought with panic as he bolted down the streets of Konoha, darting expertly around the village despite the darkness of the night. Behind him, angry whispers and the sound of many running feet, alerting Naruto that the small mob of villagers still chased him. What was worse, they were getting closer.

Turning sharply around the corner of a T- like intersection where three alleys connected, Naruto started bolting before he was forced to slam his feet on the ground to stop when he heard more voices ahead of him. He palled as he realized the villagers had split in two groups to corner him, and bolted back down the alley until he reached the T intersection and ran down the other alleyway, hoping to find an escape route.

Unfortunately, his hopes were shattered when he was met with a cold and solid wall of brick at the end of the alley.

-Dead End!- he thought to himself with panic, his breath coming fast from all the running. He turned around, and cursed under his breath when he heard the voices and footsteps getting closer behind him. A moment later both groups of villagers converged upon the entrance to the alley were Naruto was still trying to find a way out.

Naruto looked around desperately, but there was nothing he could use. Not even trash or boxes. The alley was completely empty, as if... "It had been cleared out." he whispered to himself as the realization struck him. This had been planned! It wasn't just some random group teaming up on a whim to get him after getting drunk, this had been carefully planned, since the beginning. They had herded him here.

Naruto looked around nervously as the less than friendly crowd got close to him. It wasn't a large crowd, there was only about a dozen persons, but considering Naruto was only six years old, it might as well have been fifty men. His gut clenched as they came even closer, their eyes, angry and murderous, fixed on his face.

The mob closed in on the blond child, his sky blue eyes wide in fear as the mob came within an arms reach of him. The mob hissed at each other and growled hateful words at the child, their ill intent clear to anyone that happened to be gazing upon the scene.

"Demon spawn!"

"Evil child!"

"Accursed kid!"

"Devil brat!"

The mob growled at him threateningly, a dozen voices dripped with poisonous words that seemed to crawl towards him like malevolent snakes. The voices of the crowed gradually grew louder, angrier, their faces contracting in more hateful sneers by the second.

"Give them back you monster!"

"How dare you live among us!"

"Return my son!"

"You'll pay for hat you did!"

And as the mob cursed the boy they inches closer to him, and he backed up until his back hit the corner of the alley's dead end. He glanced back desperately but there was no way out.

"GET HIM!" Someone with a torch shouted, and the small mob descended upon the Naruto, hands clawed ant his face, tore at his clothes, fists slammed against his body, and kicks landed on his ribs viciously. And Naruto shouted and cried as he curled up and tried to protect himself as the village's people beat him. He could feel his blood running down his face, his own bones starting to crack under the constant attacks of the mob.

A blow from one of the nameless attackers struck him in the jaw, and his head seemed to swim for a moment as he blacked out, his consciousness fading into darkness as his mind sought to flee from the pain.

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Sarutobi, the third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaf, a world renown ninja that is considered amongst the best in the world despite being in his early seventies. His age itself spoke volumes about his capabilities as a ninja, considering most ninja would retire by their mid forties, not to mention the life expectancy of any active shinobi was about fifty years.

That said, Sarutobi was meant to retire six years ago for good, satisfied that he had found a worthy heir for lead the village. But unfortunately, the fourth Hokage had been killed five years ago during the attack of the nine-tailed fox and Sarutobi had been forced to take up the tittle of Hokage one more time.

Sarutobi breathed a regretful sigh as he recalled the night of the attack of the fox. He had been unable to stop the beast before his student had been able to arrive. If only he had... No. That wouldn't do, He thought with resolve to himself as he shook his head to rid himself of the regretful thoughts. It was far too late to do anything about it at any rate.

Regardless, his thoughts strayed back to the day in which the fourth Hokage died. He remembered rushing towards Gambuta moments after the the young Hokage had used the 'Dead Demon Sealing Technique', recognizing it the moment the Shinigami had appeared behind the blonde Kage. When he arrived, he quickly hoped on Gambuta's head and took the child into his arms, wrapping him in the blanket that his father had brought him in during the final moments of the struggle against the demonic fox. His eyes caught sight of small paper that seemed to be attached to the blanket with a weak chakra film. Focusing his eyes, he read the short letter, and quickly realized it was the last wish of the fourth Hokage. It was spartanly short.

"Let him be seen as a hero. He has saved the village. Please take care of my son, Naruto."

Even to this day Sarutobi felt his throat tighten slightly and his eyes sting whenever he remembered this. Later, on the same day the fourth had died, he had found out that his own wife and Naruto's mother had been slain by an unknown ninja.

Sarutobi couldn't help but to sigh tiredly as he finished recollecting the day, feeling a decade older by the end of it. He had made a mistake in letting it be known publicly that the child of the fourth had the fox being sealed inside of him (though he had omitted the part of Naruto being the son of the Fourth). The reaction of the village had been completely different than what he expected. With the fear of the fox still fresh in their miss and the death count increasing as victims of the attack passed away even under the care of the medics, the fear and hate towards the fox had increased exponentially overnight. In his rush to protect the child, he had created a law that would sentence anyone that breathed a single word about Kyuuby being sealed in Naruto to anyone one that did not know about it, including Naruto himself, would be sentenced with treason and death, classifying it as an S-rank secret. The only two people exempted from this Law were only Naruto and Sarutobi.

Many times he had wondered if he should let it be known publicly that Naruto was the son of the fourth Hokage, since it would probably change that horrendous attitude of the villagers into a more positive one, but he knew that the fourth Hokage, and indeed the village itself, had many enemies, so it was a given that letting it be known publicly that the son of the fourth Hokage was alive and acting as the container of the Kyuuby to top it off, would only be inviting death to approach Naruto.

"And I'll be damned if I'll let the legacy of the fourth die so easily." He muttered to himself with steel strong resolution. Now that he thought about it though, he wondered what the boy was up to right now.

He idly pulled out his crystal ball and began to perform his observation jutsu.

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When Naruto opened his eyes again, he was standing in a sort of underground sewer system or an underground canal of some kind. He idly wondered when he had gotten here, the last he remembered he was being beaten by people in an alley... Had they tossed him in this sewer?

He looked around, the water flowing around his knees. Looking down at the liquid, it was a sort of murky grey, like water that had come from a turbulent river, rather than the nasty color sewers often had. While this struck him a odd, it didn't keep him from wondering through the mace of tunnels that was the sewer system. It was surprisingly complex, he realized. He also noted that the sewer wasn't in the best shape ever. It had a few cracks running along the walls, dust stuck to bits and pieces of the wall, and that there seemed to be a muffled thumping sound that seemed to ring out irregularly. The thing that he found the most interesting though were the complex set of pipes that ran along the walls and the ceiling. They seemed to be made of transparent glass or plastic, with a glowing blue fluid running through it. Occasionally he would see bubbles of red or deep orange float around within the blue liquid, which he thought made the whole system pretty. Sometimes the orange/red blobs would even mix in with the blue stuff, making a little soft white glow.

He would have stayed there staring at the pipes for much longer, had it not being for a reverberating growling sound that echoed across the sewer. Curiously, he Naruto turned his attention towards it, following an instinct that pulled him along through the mace of sewer canals. He noted that sometimes there would be gates scattered along the walls of the sewer, but he couldn't figure out what purpose they could have.

Before he had realized it, his feet had taken him to one of the gates, save this one seemed to be missing locked doors the other gates had. As a matter of fact, the 'Gate' was more like the entrance to large cave, and for some reason it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

And yet he felt that he needed to go in. It was as if a great power was calling him from within the cave. And it was a call he couldn't refuse, for he felt a tone of urgency in the call.

Without much delay, Naruto stepped through the cave-like entrance, and soon he came into a dry but massive room, a room that truly resembled a cave of large proportions, save for one fact: the massive barred gate. The metallic fence was made of thick metallic bars that stretched from the floor of the cave all the way to the ceiling, and all that seemed to be keeping the massive gate closed was a flimsy looking paper with the Kanji of "Seal" written on it.

Curiously, Naruto took a tentative step forwards.

"About damn time!" A loud and deep voice rumbled through the cave, startling Naruto and making him jump like a scared jack rabbit. "Come here you brat."

"W-whose there?" Naruto asked carefully, curiosity and fear clearly mixing in his tone.

"I'm the Great Kyuubi no Kitsune!" The voice roared, and a large pair of blood red eyes appeared behind the bars that kept whatever the source of the voice was trapped in the cave. Like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, a mouth appeared bellow the eyes. But unlike the smile from the cat in Alice in wonderland, this mouth was full of massive fangs and sharp teeth, and large enough that it could have adult swallowed four grown men in a single bite.

"W-well," Naruto replied, standing in front of the gates more steadily as words rolled off his tongue, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and future Hokage!" Naruto finished proudly, almost shouting it out.

"So, you are my host then?" the voice hissed out, "I would like nothing more than to eat you right now, and stop your blabbering." The fox said with a tone of malice that made Naruto shiver a little, "But right now," the creature boomed again, "we have no time for that."

Naruto blinked at the creature questioningly, but even as he opened his mouth to ask what the fox was referring to, the sentient fox cut him off.

"Look brat, you remember those people that were beating your body? Well they are still going at it. This is place is inside your mind. Time I distorted here, but in the material world, you are still being beaten to a bloody pulp." The fox said bluntly, shocking Naruto into silence. And now that the boy noticed it, he started to feel sore, the pain incrementing by the second as he recalled what was happening 'outside'.

"Now listen here brat," the fox barked out, "If you die I die, and that's not about to happen." The fox growled, obviously displeased by the mere thought of dying so unceremoniously. "So lets make a deal."

"A deal?" Naruto asked carefully, unsure of where the fox was going with this.

"Yes, a deal brat." The fox replied impatiently, "I'll lend you some of my power, and in exchange you must survive and conquer."

"Conquer?" Naruto asked with confusion.

"Don't worry about it for now." The fox growled, "do you accept?"

Naruto didn't really have a choice. Plus, how often do you have the chance to wield the strength of a feared mystical creature?

"I agree." Naruto said resolutely. There was no way he was dying before becoming Hokage.

"Good." The fox said with a snort before a sort of red liquid, bubbling with power began to flow slowly through the bottom of the cage-like gate, going towards Naruto. "The deal is made."

The fluid reached Naruto's feet and crawled up his legs, wrapping itself around him like a misty cloak of new power.

"Now go!" The fox ordered, and Naruto immediately felt himself being kicked out of the cave by an unseen force. He flew backwards down the sewers at incredible speeds, and his vision dimmed until it went pitch black.

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Sarutobi stared into his crystal ball as his jutsu took effect. But as it began to work, he jerked his head towards the window with a shocked and worried expression. He felt it, the pulsating chakra that dripped with power and bloodlust that came from the demon fox, that thick and overwhelming chakra that would make most shinobi's blood freeze in fear.

"No..." He whispered to himself, fearing the worst. However, with the skill of a great leader, he pulled his wits together in an instant and looked again to the crystal ball. And he saw it. Naruto being beaten for only a few seconds, until blood red chakra began to radiate from him, so thick that it was visible to even the ignorant villagers that attacked him. And the villagers then began to back up slowly, as they realized that they had probably just awoken the slumbering beast, or rather, the sealed fox.

Forcing himself to tear his gaze away, Sarutobi put on his 'business' face, masking his emotions with a stern and decisive facial expression.

"Wolf! Cat! Crow!" He shouted decisively, and three figures cloaked in black, wearing the masks of the animals that Sarutobi had called out appeared before him.

"Yes Hokage-sama!" The three figures shouted in unison.

"We have a situation on our hands. Some ignorant villagers may have just cost us all that we saved five years ago. We head out immediately!"

The three cloaked ANBU nodded in unison and bowed, "Your will we obey."

Sarutobi nodded sharply and opened a window. "Kalashi. I understand you wanted to retire from being the leader of the ANBU. Consider this your last official mission as the commander of all ANBU units."

The mask with the wolf mask nodded. "Thank you Hokage-Sama"

Sautobi merely nodded. "Let us be off."

And the four ninja disappeared in a flurry of speed.

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Naruto awoke with a burst of pain as he became aware of his injuries once more. However the pain quickly began to get duller and within seconds it was gone. He may not have know it, but the Kyuubi's chakra was no ordinary chakra. By hosting the monstrous host within his own body, he acquired borderline superhuman healing abilities, and by using chakra from the fox, that ability was enhanced several times over, reaching the point of superhuman regeneration. Thus, when the fox allowed Naruto access to his chakra, Naruto's cracked bones regenerated, his cut back was healed, his broken arm rest itself and healed in a mater of seconds.

And the villagers saw this. The mob stared in fear as they felt, and even _saw _the pulsating red chakra they knew belonged to the Kyuubi. It wasn't nearly as strong as it had been five years ago, but it was enough to make them back up in fear.

Naruto stood up slowly as he took in the new feelings that coursed through his body. The numbing of pain was joined by enhancing of his senses, his eyesight and hearing becoming sharper, and the scent of things seemed far more prominent than before. But a new scent stood out to him, one he hadn't smelled before but yet he distinctively recognized.

The scent of fear.

He looked up to the horrified villagers, his irises now blood red and slitted rather than their usual sky blue colour. His facial features seemed to have become more feral, his fingers a bit more claw-like.

But before he had time to do more than to growl at the villagers, a hand struck him on the back of his neck, painlessly knocking him out cold.

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Sarutobi stood behind Naruto, as the child slumped over unconsciously. The Hokage gazed coldly at the small mob of villagers, sending a chill through their spines as the presence of the Hokage pressed down on them. It was as if the air itself had become cold and heavy under the influence of the Kage.

It felt eerily similar to an approaching storm.

"Wolf," Sarutobi said with a steel hard tone, his gaze never leaving the mob, "take Naruto to my office."

Kakashi only nodded and lifted the boy into his arms gingerly, knowing that care had to be taken with the child after the aggressive beating he had taken, and he quickly departed to the Kage's office, making sure to move as softly as possible to not disturb the slumbering child in his arms. As he rushed back to the tower, however, he could not help but pity the crowd that had attacked Naruto. Surutobi cared for the boy, and the people that assaulted said boy had not only attacked a defenceless child, they had potentially endangered the whole village by provoking Naruto to use the power of the fox.

Kakashi had little doubt that every single one of the aggressors would be put though an excruciating session with Ibiki at the very least, though in all likelihood, Sarutobi would have them all executed.

-_And good riddance_.- Kakashi thought to himself.

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Naruto woke in his own bed, hours later after the incident with the hostile crowd of villagers, his body itchy but otherwise fine.

"Ah, Naruto." An old voice sounded beside him, making him sit upright in a flash as the voice startled him. He snapped his head to look in the direction of the source of the voice, finding Sarutobi sitting in a stool to the right of his bed. "You are awake. Good."

"Jiji? (Grandpa)" Naruto asked with surprise. But the momentary surprise didn't stop him from lunging at the Hokage and embracing him as tightly as his 5 year-old body could manage.

The Hokage only smiled at the boy gently and patted his head. "There there, Naruto. Those brutes have been dealt with."

"It was scary Jiji..." Naruto whimpered as he hugged the Hokage, surprisingly being able to hold in any tears that might have threatened to spill from his eyes.

"I know Naruto... I know." Sarutobi said to the boy gently.

After a moment, Naruto relaxed his grip around the ribcage of the Hokage and sat down on his bed again. At that point, Sarutobi looked him over carefully.

"Are you feeling alright Naruto?"

"Yes...?" Naruto replied uncertainly, which made the Kage frown slightly.

"Did anything weird happen?" Sarutobi asked again, trying to invite the child to talk without ordering him to tell him about the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Well... After I got knocked out," Naruto said as he tried to recall the exact sequence of events, " I woke up in this weird... Sewer sort of place."

"Sewer?" The Kage asked with surprise. Whatever he had expected Naruto to say was certainly not that.

"Yeah, it was really weird, and it had all this cool looking pipes!" Naruto added with excitement as he started talking quickly, "Anyways, I walked around for a while and then I came up to this weird sort of Cave thing. Then this BIIIIIIIG fox face came up to me, but it couldn't get too close 'cause there were this weird Gate thingy keeping it trapped. So the fox face told me that I was dying, and that if I died then he would die and that he really didn't want to die so he would lend me power so I wouldn't die." Naruto concluded, as he took a deep breath of air since he hadn't stopped to breath once thought his entire rant.

Sarutobi looked at the boy with a shocked expression. As far as he knew, the nine-tailed beasts weren't sentient beings. They were masses of power that were well... Beasts. Animals. Living creatures that held no rational thoughts or any sort of sentient thought processing for that matter. And yet, here was Naruto, the jinchuriki (demon container), telling him that the beasts could talk.

"You say the fox was locked up, right?" Sarutobi asked, "did the gate open at all?"

Naruto shook his head, "no, it didn't. It didn't open at all."

Sarutobi say in silence for a moment, thinking about what he had just heard. It seemed that the beast hasn't managed to scape at all, but the fact that it had contacted Naruto disturbed him.

"Naruto, you shouldn't tell anyone about this." Sarutobi warned him, "Not yet anyways. I suggest you only tell the people closest to you. This is a very important secret."

Naruto nodded at the Hokage seriously, as if hanging on his every word. He was kinda cute in his childish way.

Sarutobi smiled and patted Naruto on the head, "Good lad. Now, how about we go get some ramen?"

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted with excitement, bolting off his bed and following the Hokage out of his apartment.

But while Naruto excitedly chatted with Sarutobi, the old Hokage couldn't help but to worry for the boy. He had contacted the fox, and by doing so, he had stumbled upon an S-rank village secret.

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AND BOOM! Chapter 1 is done! Yeah, I know, not very action packed but hey! Don't worry, if you want some action, you'll get plenty of that soon enough! We'll have a time skip, so next chapter will take place 8 years later, when Naruto is graduating from the ninja academy!

Alrighty then, so! Leave me a review or comment, tell me how you like the chapter, i would love to hear back from you guys!

Freedragon, logging out!


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